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Letter Writing: Letters to the Editor

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Getting mail is a ton of fun, but in an increasingly digital world, writing it can sometimes be hard. This blog post series about Letter Writing aims to make it easier.

In a world of comment threads, it is easy to give your opinion, but there is still a place for the well-written Letter to the Editor or Op Ed note. Letters to the Editor respond to recently published articles; Op-Ed. Letters express an opinion about a current event or trend, but are not necessarily responding to a specific article. Both follow the same basic guidelines, and can serve to make your voice heard.

First, pick your topic and what publication you are sending your letter to. If you are writing in response to an article, write to the paper that published it. If you writing about a more general topic, consider which publications have an interested audience. Magazines tend to attract like-minded readers; newspapers have a more general readership. Certain publication will also be aimed at certain geographical regions, such as a local paper. Remember too- you are more likely to be published at a smaller publication.

Look up if there are any guidelines from the publisher, but a good rule of thumb is to use a business letter format for the heading. Include your full name and contact information; most publications like to verify the identify of writers, but won’t publish contact information. The salutation can be “Dear Editor,” or can address the writer of the article you are responding to.

The body of the letter should be short- the shorter the better! Start by addressing your topic. If you are responding to a specific article, make sure to state the name of the piece and date published. Next, state your opinion and, if relevant, why you are an authority on the subject (for example, a teacher might be an authority on the 21st century classrooms or a doctor on vaccinations). After this, provide the evidence to back up your opinion. Evidence could include facts (if well-researched!), but could also include local events or even a personal narrative that proves a larger point. Also, if you are talking about a problem, give a solution; write a call to action. What can the reader do to help?

Other good tips include using a professional tone, and not bashing those with opposing opinions- it only makes you look less sure of your stance. Try to humanize the story and tell people why they should care. Lastly, make sure you only address a single topic at a time.

Taken together these tips will help you to take on the world of writing letters to editors, so you can change the world one envelope at a time!

As the person in charge of letters to the editor for the newspaper where I work, all I have to say is, HEAR, HEAR! If only everyone followed your instructions — it would make my job 1,000 times easier!

fun story regarding this- in my 7th grade English class we were encouraged to write to the editor of our paper, and if we got published, we got extra credit! I actually made it one time, and I can't remember exactly what I wrote about...it was some scandal with an athlete and how he wasn't being a good role model.